It’s kind of the author’s decision as it’s their work – when buying a digital good you get a digital file, which you received, so you got in return what you paid for, no one said it would be for sale forever

It’s been the same in the digital stock world since inception I’m afraid.

It should be mandatory for the author to keep it available for download on the place you made the purchase for a reasonable period of time, say at least 3 years. With the price of hosting these days there is no good reason why this ruse is not imposed yet on TF

The author doesn’t host your download – TF does and if the item is pulled by the author it is (legally) removed from availability on the site as distribution of the file for TF has been pulled by the author – also why 3 years? The responsibility of ensuring you keep a copy of your purchase is your own I’m afraid, not trying to be harsh in anyway to your comment but basically expecting someone else to have a copy of the item you bought should fall on you.

That’s what I said – It should be mandatory for the author to keep it available for download, e.g. not to be able to remove it. As an alternative solution (and I can call it an official suggestion to TF), if an author removes an item, it should be kept in an archive, available only for those users who already made a purchase. Again for a reasonable period of time. This is a very good and above all very fair practice to the users. It is related with extra disk space on the servers, I agree, but with the current price of hosting… besides I’m pretty sure the % of authors that delete their items is low enough.

You miss the point of instant digital goods I’m afraid – you purchase and download immediately there is no need to keep the item up for you to have access to the file because you purchased and downloaded the item – TF cannot keep an item for download once removed for sale as they have no right to that product at all, it’s the authors product and they have to remove it or they would receive a DMCA from the author

I really don’t see much argument here – it’s the same and always has been for digital products such as stock images – they are the same and can be removed once you purchase for whatever reasons by the company or individual photographer.

I think the download should stay available for a week from removal and have a notice sent to buyers. The theme LandPost by ThemesFever was one I had purchased, but now is gone. I downloaded it, but what if I had not?

LandonWilson said
I think the download should stay available for a week from removal and have a notice sent to buyers. The theme LandPost by ThemesFever was one I had purchased, but now is gone. I downloaded it, but what if I had not?

That I agree with totally – but would need to be in the terms and conditions that authors agree to obviously – I personally wouldn’t have any issue with that at all and feel it’s fair.

You wrongly put the focus on the digital goods. It’s not about them. It doesn’t matter if you sell cars or photos. It’s about making a better service. Envato is a very interesting place that helps authors and buyers get together. Everything that improves the experience for both parties is important. Now what we have from my idea for the archive:

Direct result for authors: neutral, authors don’t care about their buyers keep access on the files, why should they
Direct result for Envato: tiny negative due to some extra space required and extra effort in men hoursDirect result for the buyer: very bigErgo: if the buyers will be happier everyone will be happier

What happens if I buy an old theme, from 2 years ago, but I don’t download it this very day. The next day the author removes it. Really, who benefits from that?

A simple paragraph in the user agreement will be enough to sort things from legal point of view, so no worries there as well.

Sorry but I’m not wrong at all – I’ve been in the business of digital downloads for almost 15 years bud – I know how things run and where copyright laws stand – simple fact is you can’t go back to a store for an item if you lose it can you… Not the stores fault – same thing with digital goods – quite a few places send you a 24 hour link after a purchase also.. how do you explain that

You are misreading my responses thinking my focus is on the digital goods, it’s not it’s copyright – authors own files, not buyers or themeforest – buyers get a single use license – download and use (keep a backup just in case) – ever bought music online…

It’s not the responsibility of the author to ensure that an item you purchased from themeforest 2 years ago is still available because you forgot to download – please see the other message I agreed was the correct way – if an item is pulled by an author then everyone (previous buyers) should get notice from TF and they have 2 weeks or whatever to re download for backup purposes.